Evolution of the IT Department in the Age of the Cloud

There’s no question that the cloud presents a disruptive technology that inevitably leads to rethinking – and often restructuring – the objectives of internal IT departments.

An internal IT department – once considered critical to the success of the business enterprise – has, in many cases, become obsolete. With cloud-delivered applications eliminating the need for hosting multiple versions of software on servers, testing for compatibility and applying security patches, the need for internal IT staff managing an infrastructure has been diminished. The result is that cloud-based companies function more efficiently, have more secure data and operate more profitably.

Raj Sabhlok recently posted an article titled 7 Reasons Why IT Won’t Disappear Anytime Soon. I prefer to think that internal IT departments are in a transitional phase which will result in more strategic, meaningful work than managing an IT infrastructure. Internal staff can be repositioned to create more value for the company. In fact, we find that internal staff that act as a liaison between our cloud ERP solution and their companies frequently move into higher levels of responsibility due to their comprehensive understanding of workflow, processes and technology.